Jammu and Kashmir's New Rail Link

A new rail link between Banihal and Qazigund, in Jammu and Kashmir, includes India's longest rail tunnel. In pictures.

June 27, 2013 3:39 a.m. ET

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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and Congress President Sonia Gandhi, inaugurated a rail link between Banihal, a town in Jammu and Qazigund a town in the Kashmir valley on June 26. Shown, a policeman stood next to a train decorated with garlands during the inauguration.
Farooq Khan/European Pressphoto Agency…

The rail link between Banihal and Qazigund in Jammu and Kashmir includes a 11 kilometer tunnel. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his speech at the inauguration, said this is the longest rail tunnel in the country. It took seven years to complete the tunnel. Shown, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, third from right, and Congress party President Sonia Gandhi, fourth from right, flagged off the train service.
Tauseef Mustafa/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images…

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and federal Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad were also present at the inauguration ceremony. Pictured, school children waved the Indian national flag from the windows of the train.
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This rail link connects the Jammu region to the Kashmir valley, otherwise separated by the Pir Panjal mountain range. Pictured, schoolgirls waved the Indian national flag at the inauguration ceremony.
Tauseef Mustafa/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images…

Another new rail link connecting Banihal and Udhampur, a city in Jammu and Kashmir, is expected to be completed by 2017. This link will connect Kashmir with the rest of the country's railway network. Shown, a security personnel frisked people, who came to see the flagging off ceremony of the rail service, at a security checkpoint.
Farooq Khan/European Pressphoto Agency…

India has one of the most elaborate railway networks in the world with a total track length of around 114,000 kilometers. Shown, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh waved on the inaugural train ride between Banihal and Qazigund.
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According to reports in Indian media, the new rail link will cut down the travelling time to about 12 minutes. It takes over an hour to make the same journey by road, the reports said. Pictured, a man stood in the driver's coach of a train on the new rail link.
Farooq Khan/European Pressphoto Agency…